No sooner had I picked up and started looking at a pair of shoes in a shop at the Airport last week, when a loud voice from the sales lady came from across the store, “Those are really comfortable shoes!” 

Hmmm? Was she talking about her experience with the shoes or mine? If it was about mine, I’ve never put them on nor talked with her before, so how would she know? (My defenses against being ‘sold’ starting rising!)  Read More→

 Are you aware that what you’re thinking will influence what you say? Many of you might recall me saying, that when talking with people “your words can give you away”. 

What I mean by this is that what you say, or how you reply to someone, is influenced by how and what you’re thinking. 

And here’s the important part. If you’re thinking negatively, (and unless you’re aware of it), you’ll say things or use words that will send a message that won’t serve you.  Read More→

I was wanting to practice a new string of Natural Selling dialogue questions this last week and decided a good place to do so would be one of the many coffee shops we have here in Vancouver. 

So with my cup of tea and chocolate cake I found a place on a stool that faced outward to the street to watch the people passing buy (intended pun!). I also made sure there was an empty stool on each side of me!  Read More→

Have you ever called a lead to find that from the moment they picked up the phone they sounded as though they were non business like, perhaps not too motivated or didn’t appear to be committed to doing much? 

Did you then decide that they really weren’t worth spending any more time with and rapidly wound down the conversation? 

If you have – Beware! Your initial judgments are probably losing you more money and opportunities than you would care to know!  Read More→

Here is an actual Dialogue I had with a friend who was a member of a small group I was coaching. Perhaps something in it will ring a bell for you. 

The following challenge was posed as a problem… 

One of the problems I face is that I don’t have enough time to go back to my clients to follow up after I have been of service to them. 

Why is it you don’t have enough time?  Read More→

Be aware of what you are thinking and saying. Language creates reality. Are you unknowingly creating what you don’t want? 

While I was observing an Opportunity Meeting, I noted three things about the presentation that were, what could be called, “resistance creators”. 

Could you be doing something similar without realizing it?  Read More→

You’ve heard the expression “Just be yourself”. Perhaps you’ve been told to BE yourself when you were struggling with how to communicate with someone for example. 

This is an interesting piece of conventional wisdom and a cliché that I accepted and used until I woke up to the potential absurdity of it. 

The potential absurdity comes from the fact that BE-ing ourselves got us where we are! So how does continuing BE-ing the person we presently are help us BE the person we want to be?  Read More→

An interesting comment was made by a participant on one of my coaching/training calls when he was summing up Natural Selling. 

He said that it’s important to “portray yourself as the expert in the solutions you have to offer”. 

The question is – is it important? 

Many years ago when I was selling aftermarket automobile software to different companies throughout the world, two things I didn’t have was; 

The technical knowledge of how the software worked (only very rudimentary knowledge) 

And how a car engine worked!  Read More→

A short reminder about listening… 

A participant at one of my workshops came up with an additional word to the anagram based on the word listen… 

Think about writing the following three words on a Post-it note and “post it” on your refrigerator door. They might be the 3 most important things you can do on your path to being on purpose, helping others and achieving your personal goals.  Read More→

I was reading in a magazine recently about the number of people who make resolutions at the beginning of the New Year and never see them through! 

No, this is not about how you can stick to your resolutions! This is about how you can help other people stick to theirs! After all, if the Purpose of a business is to help other people solve their problems, isn’t this a great time to find out what those are and offer to help – if it is appropriate to do so?  Read More→